The Production Side

To kick off the New Year, I thought I'd get back into the focus of this journal which is to de-mystify the world of film.  So today's entry will be more focused on the production side of the "Smilodon" aka "SaberTooth" aka "Night of the Smilodon/SaberTooth".

The Assistant Directors

These were our Assistant Directors on set.  Pennie (2nd AD) and Brad (3rd AD aka the 2nd-2nd AD).  Pennie's job was to organize all the actors traveling onto set everyday, signing in and out and relayed what was going on set to the production office.  Brad coordinated where we needed to be at all times (breakfast, lunch, makeup, wardrobe, on set).  He also directed the background extras and knew when to get us an Iced Coffee at the perfect point in the day before we dropped of heatstroke in the non-air conditioned studio amongst 90 degree weather.  Whenever you check onto a set as an actor, ask for the 2nd or 2nd-2nd AD when you first show up and they'll know where to rush you off to.  Also, as silly as it may sound, let them know whenever you are going to your trailer, the bathroom or craft services -- you'll never know when you'll be needed on set and they need to be able to locate you at a minute's notice.  Incidentally, the 1st Assistant Director basically means what the title says.  He/she knows what the director wants and keeps things on set moving along in a timely manner.  Knowing what the director needs, he/she must factor in the time it takes for the lighting people, sound people, camera people and actors to do their respective thing -- so they're really busy and you probably won't meet him/her until you're in front of the camera and ready to shoot.

Special Effects

This photo is taken from the Visual Effects (VFX) Department.  Obviously we did not work with real SaberTooth Tigers or any animals.  So to set up for a special effect shot of say, someone getting chased down by a SaberTooth Tiger, the shot goes through 4 steps.  1) The camera gets locked down in one area and they shoot the actor running away from an imaginary tiger.  Imagination is a huge plus here.  It helps to know little details like how big the thing is, where is it coming from (so your eyeline is correct) and how fast, etc.  2) With the camera rolling where it originally was, the VFX Director gets on his hand and knees - takes that silver ball and walks it though the path of the Sabertooth Tiger.  This is to capture the lighting from all angles so the Computer Generated Image (CGI) Tiger will be lit correctly.  3) Then the VFX guy takes the stuffed dog through the same process - to capture how fur catches the light during the path. 4) Then the orange balls are placed on the ground to indicate the path and where the Tiger should be inserted.  

The CGI folks now have enough information to put these 4 takes together:  The actor running away, knowing where to insert the Tiger chasing him plus they know how the fur will move and how it should be lit to stay consistent with the actor and keep the illusion both were in the same room.

Continuity

This shot is to illustrate how the wardrobe people keep continuity on set -- which hand a watch was on,  how many buttons were buttoned up, etc.  The whole movie takes place in one day, so there weren't any costume changes.  But this photo was taken to keep track of where the blood was on my costume.  But it's really the job of the actor to keep track of their own continuity.  Someone is on set to do it but you try keeping track of everyone's continuity -- it's tough.  So for me, I tried to remember which hand I held my flashlight in the scene before.  Where I took a sip of my drink within my dialogue.  It seems like little stuff but if your actions don't always match from different angles, your scenes will be impossible to cut together.  And the editor's only option is to cut to someone else in order to hide it.  But if your continuity is always on, YOU'RE the person the editor will always cut to.  If another actor in a wide shot is say, eating with one hand in one scene and then all of a sudden in the closeup is now eating with a different hand and it may be noticeable enough to be distracting, directors in the editing room always know they can cut to me for a reaction shot because all my actions are consistent in the closeups and the wideshots.

Stunts

In the film I had to learn how to chop down a door with an axe.  A stunt guy took me aside and show me how to properly axe down a door.  So that 1) I could perform and have it translate on camera when "Action" was called.  2) So that I wouldn't hurt myself or anyone else on set.  With guns, the armourer will show you how to hold it and tell you to ALWAYS treat it as if it were loaded - no matter what.  The gun will be taken away from you after your scene is done and given back when you start up again.  Always ask to check the chambers every time to make sure they're empty - especially if the gun's being pointed at you.  Checks on the gun have already been done but you're the one that really matters in this situation.  Even if the gun's fake - check that it's fake every time.  No matter how annoying you think you're being.  Ask the guy who accidently shot Brandon Lee on "The Crow" about how he feels now.  And you have no idea how easy it is for any sicko to roam onto set and do a quick switch in between setups.  In "Better Luck Tomorrow", I always let John Cho feel that my baseball bat was made of foam before each take to reassure him before I bludgeoned him with it.  

Freaking out the Locals

Then to finish off today's lesson, here's a cute shot of a Fijian Kid who wandered onto set while the VFX guy was testing the consistency of a bucket of fake blood he made from mixing syrup and food coloring. 

With me in the corner with blood face and clothes.  Then is dude mixing blood.  Poor guy must've thought, "What the heck is going on here?"

Meet the Cast

Here are a few photos of the cast in Fiji.  (L-R) Billy Aaron Brown ("8 Simple Rules") plays the Jock, Amanda Stephens plays the prissy queen, Cleopatra Coleman plays my love interest, Natalie Avital plays the Goth Girl and of course I play the techno guy - very "Breakfast Club". 

Rawiri Paratene ("Whale Rider"), plays the head of security for "Primal Park", where this whole movie takes place. 

Look at how much bigger his head is than mine!

And then you have Robert Carradine (Louis from "Revenge of the Nerds" and Hilary Duff's Dad on "Lizzy Maguire") playing one of the investors of the Sabertooth Cloning project and on his right is Nathaniel Kiwi, playing the assistant of the whole project and is also one of the funniest people you'll ever meet in life.

Here are photos I took of souvenirs while shooting "Smilodon" in Fiji.

I bought these following two items for the house.

The first vase was done by burning the wood to get rid of insects and such.  And even though the second vase was actually made in Poland, I still had to get it because it looked so cool. 

Then they also sold Tortoise Shells like these for $21 USD.  They're about 3' x 2' but could you imagine trying to explain this item to the customs people?  Plus after I took a photo behind the shell, it kinda grossed me out seeing the spine and all.  

And all over town, vendors were selling various items carved out of fish bone depicting objects untainted by man and indigenous to these Fijian Islands surrounded by 1,500 miles of Pacific Ocean.

Images of Turtles, Ancient Fijian Symbols and

... the Nike "Swoosh".

Old School

As you've read in previous entries, I was a huge Debbie Gibson fan.  I was sifting through old photos of her while going through my stuff while I was in NY and found this.

A very young Brad Pitt.  Pre-Geena Davis.  Pre-Juliette Lewis.  Pre-Gwyneth Paltrow.  Pre-Jennifer Aniston.  Actually, in this photo, he might have even been Pre-Robin Givens and not yet gotten his recurring gig on "Head of the Class"! 

I've heard this "Pitt" guy has done pretty well for himself.  I think he's in a movie with like 12 oceans or something... I dunno.  Could be a rumor.

Happy Holidays!

HOME SWEET HOME

So I'm back from Fiji and can now download photos.

As you can see, this was what my costume was during 70% of the shoot in 90 degree weather.  People died ON me in this movie and as a result wound up spraying their internal fluids on me.

The blood is corn syrup based and it got pretty sticky at times--like at ALL times.  I'm pasty here because in this scene I lock myself in a locker trying to escape from the Smilodon (technical name for SaberTooth) and I'm partly suffocated.

The film looks to air in Feb 2005 on the Sci-Fi channel and is supposed to be titled, "Night of the Smilodon" -- even though none of the film actually takes place at night.  So that might need to get changed.  As well as the word "Smilodon" or the public is going to think it's about Marlon Brando smiling a lot. 

Also on www.imdb.com, the dates for my "Tru Calling" appearances have changed to Feb 10 and 17th 2005.  So Feb looks to be a "Parry Shen" marathon.  

Fiji Update 7 - Tap, Tap, Tap, Tap, Tap, Tap, Tap

The way the hotel is set up here is that the rooms are enclosed by sliding glass doors opening up to green grass and palm trees.  So imagine holding a standard key and then tapping on a pane of glass lightly seven times.  "Tap, Tap, Tap, Tap, Tap, Tap, Tap."

This is what I heard in my hotel room at 3am.  At first it scared the crap out of me while I was in bed but I tried to ignore it and went back to sleep.  Then I heard the tapping 2 rooms down, then 5 rooms down and kept getting further and further.  So I assumed it might be one of my cast members locked out of their room after a night of partying of something and he was making the rounds.

I'm almost back asleep when I hear it the tapping again at my door.  It stops and then I hear it 4 rooms down then 7 rooms down.  And now I'm pissed off because it's 3:30am and I can't sleep.  So I station myself looking out at the peephole to grab the bastard by the neck the next time he comes around.  But I keep hearing the tapping in the distance at other rooms.

So at 3:45am, I exit my room, ready to hunt down the f***er and confront him.  I hear the tapping on the west side of the hotel.  I scurry over.  No one.  Then I hear the tapping on teh east side of the hotel.  I go in stealth mode in barefeet.  No one.  Everytime I hear the tapping, I'm on the opposite side of the hotel.  Finally, by 4am, I give up and go to sleep.   

A few hours later, Brad (the 3rd Asst. Dir.) picks me up for work.  I tell him the hellish night I had chasing down the "Tapping Jerk" and then he says, "Did it sound like this?"  And then he taps the dashboard 7 times.  I flare up ready to choke him if it was him.  I nod.  Then he says, "Oh, the Geckos make that noise."

I silently sobbed to myself the rest of the way to work because the hotel is SURROUNDED by hundreds of Geckos and I spent the night trying to chase them all down!  So what's the lesson here?  Geckos don't sell Geico, they go, "Tap, Tap, Tap, Tap, Tap, Tap, Tap."

Tomorrow I'll be on the plane back to LA away from all this madness!

Fiji Update 6 - Time To Go Home

Okay, I'm about ready to go home now.  It's past that 2 1/2 week period where you just can't party, drink fruity cocktails or enjoy the beautiful beaches anymore.  I'm all Indian Curry and Pineappled out.  Too much of a good thing gets boring. 

I also think it's because summer is kicking into high gear here, so it's getting pretty humid.  Which equates to the blood on me getting stickier everyday on set and the bugs just going crazy all over me sipping the corn syrup base.

My wife also just informed me that our little girl's starting to kick.  So I definetely want to get back asap.  I get back into LA Sunday night but there's a huge hurricane/cyclone over the islands right now that I hope passes soon.

But worst of all, one of our cast members dislocated his shoulder on the waterslide (or as they say in Australia: the "Slippery Dip") so we had to find a replacement for our watersliding "team" with another cast member.  And it wasn't pretty.  Our timing was all off.   Either my butt crashed into the head of one of my co-stars or there was too much time between our entries.  The magic was gone.  So it's time to go home.    

Today was also the big "kissing" day with the 17 year-old co-star.  All went well and it was sweet without being too over the top.  I think I was nervous because the script said, "and they kiss passionately".  But we agreed to opt to just one small, kiss appropriate for the characters.  We didn't kiss during any of the camera rehearsals and brushed our teeth and ate breath mints --  all things to make it a bit easier on both sides.  And usually if it's a really intimate scene in front of a crew of 40 people, this is what you say to your partner to cover you on all angles, "Forgive me if I don't get aroused and forgive me if I do." 

Fiji Update 5

As you may have noticed, the grammar and typos in these Fiji entries might be a tad more abundant than usual.  And that's attributed from either: 1) Me trying to beat the time I've purchased to be on the net, hence the sloppiness OR 2) I'm a bit tipsy while writing the entries since the computers are next to the hotel bar.  So please bear with me until Dec 20th.

Good news on the waterslide.  I've formed a team with 2 other cast members and we each have perfected a technique where we go down the slide one after another in 1 second intervals (so that we're all on the slide at one point).  Then we splash down into the pool without bumping into each other.  We're getting tighter and tighter each run.  Once we get it down, that's when I'll petition for it to be an event at the next Summer Olympics.

And another sport I've discovered is trying to cross the streets here.  Not only do people drive on the left side but people are always trying to pass each other, so they're also driving on the RIGHT side as well!  And then there are a lot of "turn-abouts" at the intersections where cars drive in a circle--so every time I cross the street I need to look: Left, Right, Front, Back, Above and Below!

Fiji Update 4

This week of shooting was has been pretty easy - mostly because I have no blood on me as we are shooting the beginning of the film.

Another actor joined the cast this week: Robert Carradine.  You may know him as the geeky guy in "Revenge of the Nerds" who probably originated the whole "white tape in the center of the glasses" look.  He also plays Hilary Duffs' father in "Lizzy Maguire".  And you may also know his brother, David Carradine who was the lead in "Kung Fu" series (swiped from Bruce Lee) and "Bill" in"Kill Bill".

Vacation time for the next three days.  And I have lots to do like:  Working on my speed down the hotel's water slide.

It's also cool to buy Christmas gifts here because even if you buy the cheapest thing here, as long as it's from an exotic place from say...Fiji -- people will go crazy over it.  The best part is that it's all bought from money given to from the production when you shoot on location.  SAG standard per day (per diem) is $60 USD.  Which translates into about $100 Fijian Dollars.  So stuff is really cheap here.  Plus tipping doesn't really exist here either.  So if one doesn't eat or steals food from the set, one can really start racking up on one's per diem!   

In other news, my boy Sung Kang's film by Mike Kang, "The Motel" will be at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival under the American Spectrum category.  If any of you have the means, try to attend and support.  It's a great experience and not as expensive as one might think.  The tickets are only $8-$10.  Stay at the Holiday Inn or book a cabin with a group and it's really a pretty cool deal.  The cast and crew are usually always there after the film for a Q&A and you'll be seeing some of the best cutting-edge stuff that breaks away from the paint by numbers-formulaic- Michael-Bay crap we are bombarded with.  

Fiji Update 3

The island yesterday was awesome.  I took a photo of the hammock I laid out in and looks exactly like those Corona commercials with the guy's hands just entering into view looking at a blue ocean.  Went snorkeling for the first time and it was way cool.  Cliffs of colorful coral just a foot or 2 away from my chest as I swam.  I think I saw the entire fish cast of "Finding Nemo" down there, except for Nemo.

I nabbed this crazy bright orange shell that I was going to keep but had to toss it back when I saw two eyes looking back at me inside it.

The really cool part of being an actor I think is meeting all your schoolboy crushes.  I had a huge crush on Stacy Haiduk who played Lana Lang on "Suberboy" in the late 1980's.  I watched the show just for her and now I'm hanging out with her!  I've been getting advice from her about raising kids and such over the past few days (her 5 year-old daughter is here as well).  And since I'll be having a little... girl --  I want to listen to everything she has to say.  And another cool thing is working with people who've done amazing work --like the grandfather from "Whale Rider" (Rawiri Paratne) -- who also happens to be on this cast as well!  I met him waay back when this Xanga started in Feb at the Spirit Awards!

The new hotel is great here: www.rafflesgateway.com -- the cast and I have spent the days doing time trials on it in between the downtime and one cast member has even begun to shoot a documentary baout the slide -- lots of time here in Fiji.

One bad thing about the snorkeling is that I have a big red back!  Makes sense I guess that you're lying face down the entire day in the water but I didn't even think about that when I dismissed putting sunscreen there.  Bad move.